Increasing diplomatic tension between Belarus and the rest of Europe has spread to higher education, with the country’s bid to join the European higher-education area (EHEA) effectively blocked for the next three years. The move makes Belarus the only European country to be excluded from the club of 47 nations that pledged to align their higher-education systems through the Bologna process. I

n order to join the EHEA, a country must be party to the European Cultural Convention and make a commitment to implement the area’s main objectives and policies. As well as harmonising degree structures and promoting quality assurance, these include social goals concerning academic independence and student rights.

Rejections in recent years have been based on a failure to meet the first condition. Israel, Kosovo and Kyrgyzstan were all turned down in 2007 because they had not ratified the European Cultural Convention.

Belarus passes that particular test, however, and the government has expressed a willingness to align its higher-education system with the rest of Europe in order to gain international accreditation and to attract foreign students. It applied to join the EHEA in December 2011, expecting its request to be considered at a ministerial summit taking place on 26-27 April.

The application was picked up in January by the Bologna Follow-Up Group, which prepares the summit agenda and drafts its declarations. Currently chaired by Denmark and Azerbaijan, the group recommended that ministers should reject the application. According to a statement from the Danish education ministry, this was because Belarus does not yet observe the principles and values of the Bologna process, such as academic freedom, institutional autonomy and student participation in higher-education governance.

When the group met again in March, it decided to take the Belarusian bid off the summit agenda altogether. The country will be able to re-submit its application after the summit, but any new bid to join would not be considered until the next ministerial meeting, in Yerevan in 2015.

Government propaganda

The move to exclude Belarus has been welcomed by Europe’s higher-education community. “We think that letting Belarus join the Bologna process would only be used for government propaganda and would improve little for students and academics in fundamental issues such as their freedom of research and study,” said Allan Päll, chairman of the European Students Union.

This sentiment is echoed by the European University Association, which has a small number of Belarusian institutions among its members. It believes that there is little indication that the Belarusian government intends to reform higher education in the areas flagged up as problematic by the Bologna Follow-Up Group.

“It is therefore not clear that Belarusian institutions and their members, students and staff would at this stage get much, if any, benefit from a formal membership of their country in the EHEA process,” said Lesley Wilson, the association’s secretary-general. “On the other hand, Belarus’s authorities could take EHEA membership as international acceptance and endorsement of their own higher-education policies.”

While the rebuff to the Belarusian government is clear, efforts are being made on several fronts to avoid isolating the country’s academic community. These include continuing support for scholarship schemes to help Belarusian students study abroad and for the European Humanities University, a Belarusian university-in-exile based in Vilnius.

And while the European Commission backs the decision to turn down the Belarusian bid, it will continue to support the country’s universities through the Tempus and Erasmus Mundus academic co-operation programmes. “The Commission believes that these programmes will encourage Belarus to modernise and open up its higher-education system and that it will one day be able to join the EHEA,” said a Commission spokesman.

Similarly, the block on EHEA membership should not affect current rules on student mobility.

Ian Mundell is a freelance journalist based in Brussels.

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yalin

armenia, azerbaijan, moldova and ukraine are in the process. in these countries, it is possible to buy a diploma without attending the courses. corruption in belarus is much less than such countries. but in these countries, there is ‘academic freedom’ which is not in belarus? this process is mere a political tool of europe.

Posted on 3/9/13 | 3:49 AM CET

yalin

armenia, azerbaijan, moldova and ukraine are in the process. in these countries, it is possible to buy a diploma without attending the courses. corruption in belarus is much less than such countries. but in these countries, there is ‘academic freedom’ which is not in belarus? this process is mere a political tool of europe.

Posted on 3/9/13 | 3:49 AM CET

yalin

armenia, azerbaijan, moldova and ukraine are in the process. in these countries, it is possible to buy a diploma without attending the courses. corruption in belarus is much less than such countries. but in these countries, there is ‘academic freedom’ which is not in belarus? this process is mere a political tool of europe.

Posted on 3/9/13 | 3:49 AM CET

yalin

armenia, azerbaijan, moldova and ukraine are in the process. in these countries, it is possible to buy a diploma without attending the courses. corruption in belarus is much less than such countries. but in these countries, there is ‘academic freedom’ which is not in belarus? this process is mere a political tool of europe.